Wednesday, August 16, 2017

400 years of Charity: Making God's love visible

At the end of July, I traveled to Pedro Carbo, Ecuador, with
the Sisters of Charity Seton Hill interprovincial charism experience. Each year, Korean and American
Sisters visit and volunteer at the Korean sisters’ mission, a
clinic and school for kids with special needs.
This summer marked my fifth time accompanying the group as a Spanish
interpreter. At the end of the week, I
led a retreat with SC discerner, Marylu, for school staff, clinic staff, and local
parishioners. The Sisters asked us to
focus on the 400th anniversary of the charism of Charity.

Preparing the retreat was profoundly enriching for me. As I delved more deeply
into the roots of the charism to which I have vowed my life, my own
understanding of my call deepened and expanded.
How did the charism of Charity come about? And what does that mean today?

Our retreat group, celebrating 400 years of Charity

Four hundred years ago, in January of 1617, St. Vincent de
Paul experienced a conversion moment that would drive the course of the rest of
his life. In the northern French town
Folleville, he heard a confession at the bedside of a dying peasant who had
lived a life of loneliness and pain.
Vincent’s heart moved within him as he received the man’s suffering. He
realized that this man never, in his whole life, had experienced God’s powerful
love for him through another person. And
he realized that many on the margins were equally spiritually abandoned.

Vincent’s mission materialized: to bring divine love to
all. The mission overcame him with
beautiful urgency. He knew he must spend every day of his life trying to make
sure that no one would go without the love of God. He felt especially urged to the margins, to
those people who were poor, excluded, and oppressed. He felt called to enter
into relationship with them and to align his worldview with theirs. He felt called to make love visible through
service.

Vincent said, “…Let us love God, but
let it be with the strength of our arms and the sweat of our brow.” This mission tugs at my heartstrings. I am called to make God’s love visible,
concrete, tangible. In my encounters, do
I embody love? Do I feel the same
urgency that Vincent felt?

August of 1617 brought the second part of Vincent’s
conversion. This month 400 hundred years
ago in Chatillon-les-Dombes, France,he became aware of a peasant family who was dying of
hunger. He preached an impassioned
sermon begging for action on behalf of the family. The whole town responded with great
generosity, and the family had enough food for a few days. Vincent was touched by the outpouring, but he
was also troubled. What would happen
when the food ran out?

Vincent had an epiphany that became
central to the charism. In order to make
a sustaining impact, we must organize. Over
the next years, Vincent recruited other priests, sisters, and laypeople to help
in his mission of love. They tackled the
major social injustices of their day, responding to needs for healthcare, education,
and more. Vincent also became an
advocate for systemic change. Throughout
his life, he maintained relationships with people of influence, making them
aware of important issues and urging their support. Late in life, he served on an advisory council
for the Queen, where he kept the needs of the poor before her and fought for
just legislation.

Our charism insists that God’s love
must be made manifest through action, and that must happen on an individual as
well as a societal level. For those not
familiar with our charism, common definitions of the word “charity” could be
problematic. The thrust of our energy is
not one-sided aid, welfare, or relief.
We are urged by the love of Christ to make that love evident through
service and seeking justice.

Racial justice activist Dr. Cornel
West says, “Justice is what love looks like in public.” In the wake of the horrific display of hate
in Charlottesville, that succinct but powerful phrase is a call to those of us
who claim to live the charism of Charity – and to all Christians.

Charity may begin at home, but it must
not stay there. We experience the
marvelous love of God in our lives, and it compels us to act. Where there is hatred, we cannot be silent
bystanders; we must sow love. Our lives must
make clear the love of Christ. In our
daily encounters and in our social and political engagement, do we make divine
love visible?

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, founder
of another charity tradition, said, “Do small things with great love.” Yes, AND:
Do big things with great love, too.
These times need the fire of Charity.